Sleet and snow cover roads once again

After a nearly two-week hiatus, ice and snow made another appearance in Onslow County this week.

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS Daily News Staff

After a nearly two-week hiatus, ice and snow made another appearance in Onslow County this week.

“We’re seeing rain and ice pellets in the eastern part of the county and snow and ice in the north and western part of the county,” Warren Wethington, county maintenance engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said Tuesday morning. “Things are starting to get a little tricky out on the roads.”

As the freezing rain and sleet fell through Monday night and into Tuesday morning, making roads slick and potentially dangerous, the DOT began coating roads again with a saltwater mix.

According to a report from the N.C. DOT, more than 76,000 tons of brine was poured onto the streets between Sunday morning and Tuesday morning, a precautionary measure to keep the ice from sticking to the pavement. However, according to N.C. DOT Bridge Program Manager Amanda Glynn, the unfrozen precipitation may play a role in undoing the work N.C. DOT has done.

“If we get a significant amount of rain, the brine becomes less effective as the salt concentration becomes less diluted,” Glynn said. “The brine can only help but so much.”

According to Trooper J.D. Kirk, Highway Patrol responded to more than five wrecks in the Southwest/Richlands area alone between 9 and 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Areas north and west of U.S. 17 – Southwest, Comfort, Richlands — and anything around the airport and along Gum Branch Road were icing up, Kirk said.

He added there were some parallels between last week and this week.

“Richlands is getting iced over, and they’re running into ditches,” he said.

Conditions were also treacherous at the northeastern part of the county with three wrecks reported on Tuesday morning near the Jones County line on U.S. 17, including one that temporarily closed the southbound lane on U.S. 17.

Troopers said the primary reason for the wrecks was rapidly deteriorating road conditions.

“We are advising people to stay in unless it is absolutely necessary,” Kirk said. “Make sure you decrease your speed and following distance.”

Jacksonville Police Department spokeswoman Beth Purcell said JPD had not responded to any weather related wrecks as of Tuesday morning.

“Traffic (Tuesday) morning was at a normal rate,” Purcell said, adding supervisors were checking road conditions and officers were posted throughout the city to give assistance as needed.

Aboard local bases, the Marine Corps’ public works department was actively combating winter conditions, working since approximately 6 a.m. on Tuesday to ensure safe travel across the bases, according to Nat Fahy, the public affairs officer for Marine Corps Installations East.

“The base has successfully spread sand across the major intersections and arteries,” Fahy said. “We have no knowledge of any accidents, and we are doing everything to ensure the gate entrances and roadways are clear.”

The base closed Department of Defense schools and enacted a two-hour delay for non-essential employees. They also issued a “liberal leave” option, according to Fahy, allowing employees the option to take the day off if they are uncomfortable driving in the snow. To ensure safe travel, the base, according to Fahy, will continue to spread their 110-ton supply of sand and salt on major intersections and arteries, he said.

“Road conditions aboard the base, at this time, appear to be conducive for safe travel,” Fahy said. “We’re going to do our best to keep it that way.”